This is awsome

[Kärnfysikern]

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Ab...omers_999.html

The awsome part is that we now can analyse the atmosphere of planets outside our solar system. I cant wait untill we can detect earth sized planets and then also check what kind of atmosphere they have. Life effects the atmosphere so maby we soon will have definite proof that we are not alone!!

A team of astronomers led by Carl Grillmair (Spitzer Science Center) and David Charbonneau (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) announced today that they have directly measured the first spectrum from a known planet orbiting a distant star. Two other teams made a similar measurement of a different extrasolar planet. Taken together, this pioneering work opens a new field of planetary exploration, allowing astronomers to directly analyze the atmospheres of worlds beyond our solar system.
"In a sense, we're getting our first sniffs of air from an alien world," said Charbonneau. "And what we found surprised us. Or more accurately, what we DIDN'T find surprised us."

"We expected to see common molecules like water, methane, or carbon dioxide," explained Grillmair. "But we didn't see any of those. The spectrum was flat, with no molecular fingerprints that we could detect."

The planet studied by Charbonneau and his colleagues is known as HD 189733b. It orbits a star slightly cooler and less massive than the Sun located about 60 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Vulpecula. It is the closest known "transiting" planet to Earth.

HD 189733b is a type of planet known as a "hot Jupiter." It orbits very close to its star, completing one revolution every 2.2 days. Its mass and physical size are both slightly larger than Jupiter. At a distance of only three million miles from its star, HD 189733b is heated to a broiling temperature of 1700 degrees Fahrenheit.

HD 189733b was selected for study because it periodically crosses in front of and behind its star. When transiting in front, the planet partially eclipses the star and blocks a small portion of the star's light. Similarly, the system dims slightly when the planet disappears behind its star since the star blocks the planet's light. By observing this "secondary eclipse," astronomers can tease out the faint signal of the planet from the overwhelming light of the nearby star.

The team studied HD 189733b using the Infrared Spectrograph instrument aboard NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Spitzer detects infrared light, or light beyond the red end of the visible light spectrum.

When light is split into a rainbow-like spectrum, certain atoms or molecules can leave "fingerprints" in the spectrum. Those fingerprints tell astronomers what molecules are there, just as crime scene investigators use real fingerprints to determine what person was in the area.

Missing Fingerprints Theoretical calculations by different teams unanimously predicted that water vapor should be the most obvious spectral feature. However, the fingerprint of water was missing from HD 189733b. Astronomers also expected a prominent signature of methane, but that was missing as well.

"The most fundamental thing we predicted was wrong," said Grillmair.

Since planet formation works the same way everywhere, and since the molecules in question should be just as abundant on a distant world orbiting a Sun-like star as they are in our solar system, astronomers speculate that something is hiding the molecules from sight.

One clue comes from the spectrum of a second planet, HD 209458b, which orbits a different star. That spectrum, obtained by a team led by Jeremy Richardson (NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center), shows hints of silicates - molecules containing silicon and oxygen. Such molecules form rocks on the Earth, but on the scorching-hot worlds studied with Spitzer, silicates exist as tiny dust grains that can form clouds.

"We think that both planets may be cloaked in dark silicate clouds," said Charbonneau. "These worlds are blacker than any planet in our solar system."

The best way to clear up the mystery is to study additional "hot Jupiters" to determine if they show similar signs in their atmospheres. Astronomers also will continue to study HD 189733b and HD 209458b in more detail.

"Right now, it's a puzzle," said Charbonneau. "With a few more puzzle pieces, the picture should become clearer."

The Grillmair/Charbonneau study of HD 189733b will be published in an upcoming issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The Richardson study of HD 209458b is being published in the February 22 issue of the journal Nature. A third team led by Mark Swain (NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory) also has submitted a study of the spectrum of HD 209458b to The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

[DTBusta]

wait ...you mean God created other earths?

[Haro3]

wait ...you mean God created other earths?

wait.....you meant to say the big bang theory happened other places as well

[DTBusta]

haha, but no in all seriousness God could have created everything. Except for earth, thats the devils domain. Other wise God wouldn't let people kill other people for oil right? I mean why would God put the oil in the middle east? Why would God give us such a great president? We are blessed. Anyway yeah I will look forward to tracking this story and can't wait to see other planets...that God created...

[Kärnfysikern]

It will be very interesting to se how the big religions handle the situation when(if) we find extraterestial life. If we find chemical evidence of life in the atmosphere of a exoplanet I guess they will just say the evidence is inconclusive. But if we find fossile bacteria on mars that would be harder to dismiss.

[KAEW44]

Some modern religeous thinkers argue that if there is life out there then it doesnt disprove religeon but instead just tells us that God created many other things which could include other solar systems inhabited by people who might or might not have been given the same religeon or teachings. Basically same god but different senario, basically an alternate creation to keep him busy when this one gets boring. Like owning both Playstation and Xbox!! Two forms of entertainment.

The more critical religeous people who beleive in a weakness in God will argue that maybe life on other planets was a result of the trial and error god went through in order to finally complete this perfect earth!! yaaaay.....oh wait its not so perfect so maybe we are just a defective version of something awesome he created afterwards!!!

A bit like how Bill gates messed around with windows and all previous versions were defective and had bugs and he worked his way closer and closer to the more perfect windows!! Hence Bill Gates = God!!!! But what does that make Apple-Mac???

[Flagg]

This is great news. I've always believed as Science reveals more that religion/superstition will wane more and more. Times are more liberal and we accept more things today.

Back to the original topic. I would love for there to be another planet discovered in my life time, not one that just has microcellular biological life but actual life forms. Hell, even discovering another planet has fish or insects would be HUGE!

[Haro3]

This is great news. I've always believed as Science reveals more that religion/superstition will wane more and more. Times are more liberal and we accept more things today.

Back to the original topic. I would love for there to be another planet discovered in my life time, not one that just has microcellular biological life but actual life forms. Hell, even discovering another planet has fish or insects would be HUGE!

agreed! the thought of it is awesome! i hate when people make it out like theres nothing else out there its like....you gotta be one CLOSE! minded mofo to not believe that theres something else out there i mean seriously we dont anything about other planets...i mean we've seen them but we have yet to be able to examine them fully....i dunno just cool to think about

[tinyguy2]

this reminds me of something i saw on one of those religious channels. It was about that equation thye have that shows all the variables to support life. real scientists say even with the lowest percentages there still has to be life, but on the god channel they said the exact oppisite. they said there is little cahnce of life existing. i dont get why people belive that religion science crap. its is like beliving bush is the messiah. also did you know the world is only 5000 years old and carbon dating is bs?

[Haro3]

this reminds me of something i saw on one of those religious channels. It was about that equation thye have that shows all the variables to support life. real scientists say even with the lowest percentages there still has to be life, but on the god channel they said the exact oppisite. they said there is little cahnce of life existing. i dont get why people belive that religion science crap. its is like beliving bush is the messiah. also did you know the world is only 5000 years old and carbon dating is bs?

LOL THANK YOU! this thread is gonna start an arguement if it goes religious.......then its gonna get locked but like i said u gotta be very close minded to believe theres nothing else out there. and even more close minded to believe some superior being created EVERYTHING! jmho

[Flagg]

this reminds me of something i saw on one of those religious channels. It was about that equation thye have that shows all the variables to support life. real scientists say even with the lowest percentages there still has to be life, but on the god channel they said the exact oppisite. they said there is little cahnce of life existing. i dont get why people belive that religion science crap. its is like beliving bush is the messiah. also did you know the world is only 5000 years old and carbon dating is bs?

Some of these God fearing Bible nuts believe that Science is a tool of the Devil. How I hate blind ignorance, how I hate people that can't even entertain an idea.
I can't remember where I read it but I heard for the chances of another planet to support life, like our own, there has to be huge circumstances and coincidences to occur for a planet like our own to form in the first place. However as HUGE as those circustances are as the Universe is BIGGER, if it happened here it can happen else where. I just hope we aren't all too far apart in the big ole ocean of the universe that we'll never find that out.

[Flagg]

These are two very interesting articles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_Paradox
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_Earth_hypothesis

"Opponents dismiss both Rare Earth and the anthropic principle as tautological — if a condition must exist in the universe for human life to arise, then the universe must already meet that condition, as human life exists — and as an unimaginative argument. According to this analysis, the Rare Earth hypothesis confuses a description of how life on Earth arose with a uniform conclusion of how life must arise.[7] While the probability of the specific conditions on Earth being widely replicated may be low, complex life may not require exclusively Earth-like conditions in order to evolve."

I agree that yes, the chances of planets forming similiar to ours must be quite rare and unique BUT not uncommon considering the size and age of the Universe AND that some complex life forms may not necessarily require conditions like our planet in order to live.

[juicedOUTbrain]

this reminds me of something i saw on one of those religious channels. It was about that equation thye have that shows all the variables to support life. real scientists say even with the lowest percentages there still has to be life, but on the god channel they said the exact oppisite. they said there is little cahnce of life existing. i dont get why people belive that religion science crap. its is like beliving bush is the messiah. also did you know the world is only 5000 years old and carbon dating is bs?

I think your talking about the drake equasion...It speculates that life in other parts of the universe is almost a certainty...But there is one problem...In the 14+ billion years the universe has been in existance the few thousand years that there has been civilized life on earth is but a small blip in time...

The chance of another civilization, co-existing in close proximity to earth at the exact same time is a small one, IMO...but life in general im sure is everywhere...If we can find any organic matter on any nearby planet, I think it would be safe to assume there is intelligent life elsewhere...Im sure some ever much more advanced than us...

[alphaman]

It will be very interesting to se how the big religions handle the situation when(if) we find extraterestial life. If we find chemical evidence of life in the atmosphere of a exoplanet I guess they will just say the evidence is inconclusive. But if we find fossile bacteria on mars that would be harder to dismiss.

Hello. lol


The responses will be interesting, yes, but it won't have any effect on my faith. God obviously didn't reveal everything in the Bible -- only what we need to know.

[DTBusta]

We'll see, pretty interesting stuff...

[Hoggage_54]

Haven't you guys watched Star Trek? There's thousands of species out there And Gene Roddenberry is the real God